Performance and Optimization of Three Sides Roughened Solar Air Heater

In the current scenario, the world is facing a global energy crisis because of, ever-increasing exigency for energy and the depletions of reserved sources. Experimental and simulation data of novel design for solar air heater have been evaluated and compared to find the thermal performance on an aluminum absorber plate having a discrete W-shaped roughened rib. The experiments are performed for Indore city, having a geographical position of 22° 43′ 4.51″ N, 75° 49′ 59.88″ E. Solar air heater related, Reynolds number is adopted (5000–10,000), rib height (e) is 5 mm, pitch (p) is 20 mm, relative roughness pitch (p/e) is 4, relative roughness height (e/D) is 0.0583, and (α) different rib angle inclination is 30°, 45°, and 60°. The flow parameters like (f) friction factor and Nusselt number (Nu) have been studied and found to provide excellent heat transfer characteristics. The experiments are conducted in the daytime and found results. The effect of factors and their relations has been studied by the simulation and experimental data. The results obtained from the best simulation design and experiments data are more reliable and have less variation between them.